Itching is a tingling sensation that makes you want to scratch. This sensation is usually localized (i.e. it appears on a certain part of our body, such as the calves), but it can also be generalized (i.e. all over the body)
When something irritates our skin, it breaks its protective barrier. Our skin cells release histamine, and skin receptors send a signal to our brain that prompts us to itch.
However, a joint study by scientists from the US and Germany has found that in people suffering from itchy skin, cancer is diagnosed several times more often than in others. A report on it was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Severe itching may indicate cancer, says an international research team led by Valerie Larson of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in B altimore and Sonja Stender of the University Hospital Münster.
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Scientists analyzed data from nearly 17,000 adult patients treated for pruritus at Johns Hopkins Hospital between 2013 and 2017. Their data was compared to that of approximately five million patients who did not experience itching.
Patients with itching are six times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer.
Researchers have found a link between itchy skin and the rash that appears on the skin with two forms of leukemia, bone tumors, bronchial carcinomas, and multiple myeloma.
According to their hypothesis, itching and rashes and tumors may have a common trigger that increases inflammation and causes reactions to it.
At the same time, researchers still can't say for sure what happens first: the tumor or the itch. But they appreciate the discovered connection between them as a very important find.
According to them, itching of an unclear nature should be a sign to doctors that the patient should be examined for possible cancer.
